Sixty-eight illegal immigrants were discovered in cargo containers on a ferry from the Netherlands bound for Britain. The group of migrants included two pregnant women and fifteen children. Four Polish lorry drivers have been arrested on suspicion of people-trafficking.
In other news, the Islamic State has released a propaganda video calling on Muslims in the Balkans to either join the jihad in the Middle East, or kill infidels in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, and other Balkan countries.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Fjordman, JD, Papa Whiskey, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Economists Warn Against Going Easy on Greece
A group of six leading economists took to the pages of mass-market tabloid Bild on Friday to warn the government against making any concessions to struggling Greece after the country delayed a payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland’s ‘Lost Decade’ Continues — Economy Same Size as in 2006
Finnish Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 0.1 percent for the third quarter in a row in the first quarter of this year. Finland’s GDP is now at around the same level as it was in 2006, according to Statistics Finland.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Investors Start to Panic as a Global Bond Market Crash Begins
Is the financial collapse that so many are expecting in the second half of 2015 already starting?
Many have believed that we would see bonds crash before the stock market crashes, and that is precisely what is happening right now. Since mid-April, the yield on 10 year German bonds has shot up from 0.05 percent to 0.89 percent. But much of that jump has come this week. Just a couple of days ago, the yield on 10 year German bonds was sitting at just 0.54 percent. And it isn’t just Germany — bond yields are going crazy all over Europe. So far, it is being estimated that global investors have lost more than half a trillion dollars, and there is much more room for these bonds to fall. In the end, the overall losses could be well into the trillions even before the stock market collapses.
I know that for most average Americans, talk about “bond yields” is rather boring. But it is important to understand these things, because we could very well be looking at the beginning of the next great financial crisis. The following is an excerpt from an article by Wolf Richter in which he details the unprecedented carnage that we have witnessed over the past few days…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Central Banks Are Losing Control of the Financial Markets
Every great con game eventually comes to an end. For years, global central banks have been manipulating the financial marketplace with their monetary voodoo. Somehow, they have convinced investors around the world to invest tens of trillions of dollars into bonds that provide a return that is way under the real rate of inflation. For quite a long time I have been insisting that this is highly irrational.
Why would any rational investor want to put money into investments that will make them poorer on a purchasing power basis in the long run? And when any central bank initiates a policy of “quantitative easing”, any rational investor should immediately start demanding a higher rate of return on the bonds of that nation. Creating money out of thin air and pumping into the financial system devalues all existing money and creates inflation.
Therefore, rational investors should respond by driving interest rates up. Instead, central banks told everyone that interest rates would be forced down, and that is precisely what happened. But now things have shifted. Investors are starting to behave more rationally and the central banks are starting to lose control of the financial markets, and that is a very bad sign for the rest of 2015.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tsipras Tells Lenders Not to Humiliate Greece Over Debt
Greece’s prime minister has warned international creditors not to impose humiliating terms on his country as it seeks urgently needed bailout funds.
Alexis Tsipras said negotiations were at a “critical” stage, but that the lenders’ proposals were “not realistic”.
He was briefing parliament amid growing opposition in his leftist Syriza party to the creditors’ proposals.
Earlier Greece delayed Friday’s €300m (£216m) debt repayment to the IMF.
Mr Tsipras described the EU-IMF lenders’ plan as a “bad moment for Europe” and a “bad negotiating trick”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Army Fails to Warn Residents Before Urban Warfare Explosions: “All of a Sudden, Boom!”
Yet another location is erupting into urban army exercises ahead of the nationwide Jade Helm drills that have many concerned about martial law and the true intentions of mock takeovers of U.S. cities across the map.
This time, it was unexpected “simulated explosions” that rattled residents in a neighborhood of Flint, Michigan after the U.S. Army initiated training without warning the locals — despite the fact that the drills, which will last until June 12, had been planned for six months.
According to WNEM 5:
“I was standing there, and all of a sudden, boom!” Jean Glenn said.
“I mean it was loud, it blew up the whole sky or whatever, it was like four or five big bangs,” Annette Humphrey said.
Explosions you’d expect in a war zone echoed through Flint. People’s homes shook and those inside were caught off-guard. It all went down Tuesday at the shuttered Lowell Junior High on the city’s east side.
[Comment: Acclimatizing people to these noises which may occur during round up of dissidents.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boeing’s Real-Life Laser Weapons Are Getting ‘Star Wars’ Sound Effects
Laser weapons aren’t just for sci-fi movies anymore. Companies like Boeing have been developing real-life laser cannons for years, and they’re no joke. They’re powerful enough to shoot down a drone in mid-flight.
But unlike their movie counterparts, real world lasers aren’t brightly colored beams of light that make PEW, PEW noises; they’re invisible and silent. That can be a problem for the people using a laser, because they have to pay close attention to know when they’re firing it.
To remedy this issue, and because the world is hilariously awesome, a Boeing rep recently told Nature that, and this is totally real, the company is adding Star Trek and Star Wars sound effects to its laser weapons, so operators know they’re actively firing them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cop Tells Wife to Sue if Something Happens to Him, He’s Then “Accidentally” Killed by Fellow Cop
BART police Sgt. Tom Smith came home from work one day and told his wife who is also BART police officer, that if anything happened to him, she should “sue-the s**t” out of the agency, her attorneys said Monday.
Days later, on Jan. 21, 2014, Sgt. Tom Smith would be killed during the search of a small apartment, by one of his own — BART officer Michael Maes. Maes, a law enforcement veteran with 26 years of experience as an officer, said he mistook Smith for an armed suspect during the search.
Prior to being killed by one of his own, Smith began to voice his discontent with the department after they rejected his requests for more training or the use of its SWAT teams during high-risk incidents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Either You Will be Ruled by God, Or You Will be Ruled by Tyrants
Just in the month of May, we have seen the attacks toward America’s Christian heritage intensify.
Lance Cpl. Monifa Sterling was court -martialed for refusing to take down a paraphrased Bible verse on her computer.
General Craig Olson stated at the congressionally supported National Day of Prayer Task Force that God guided him and strengthened his career and the he was a redeemed believer in Christ. Soon afterward, the anti-theists wanted to have him court—martialed.
A high school principal was fired after he read the Bible and prayed with a group of students during a volunteer Christian group meeting.
A Florida teacher humiliated a 12-year-old boy in front of an entire class after she caught him reading the Bible during free reading time.
The good news is that, in each situation, they are contesting their rights and are fighting back (Jude 1:3).
The bad news is most people believe that what is happening to their country is legal when, in fact, the opposite is true. The purpose of government is to ensure our rights, which God gave, not to steal them away. Just ask those who represent you to recite the oath that they took before serving “We The People.”
“The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” — John F. Kennedy
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Say Gangster-Turned-Radical Imam Radicalized Dozens Behind Bars
By Malia Zimmerman
A former U.S. Marine who became a Muslim radical, gang leader and bodyguard to the blind sheik behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing is so adept at turning fellow prisoners into potential extreme jihadists that Florida prison officials have kept him in shackled and in solitary confinement for the last three years, and federal authorities want a judge to tack on another three decades.
Marcus Dwayne Robertson, a Muslim extremist also known as Imam Abu Taubah who once led a murderous New York gang dubbed “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” before resurfacing decades later as a radical imam at a Florida mosque, has been held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Seminole County, Fla. Currently imprisoned on a weapons conviction, he faces sentencing on June 26 for a tax fraud conviction. Federal authorities want him locked up and kept away from other inmates out of fear he will turn them into dangerous jihadists, as he converted a number of fellow inmates including a white supremacist.
“The United States believes that the defendant is still an extremist, just as he was in the early 1990s,” prosecutors said in recent court filings in which they alleged Robertson continues to be a terrorism threat. “The only differences are that the defendant is now focused on training others to commit violent acts as opposed to committing them himself, and the violent acts are to occur overseas instead of inside the United States.”
Robertson, 46, who served time in the 1990s for crimes related to his days as a Brooklyn gang leader, has been imprisoned in Florida in 2011 on a gun charge. In just one year behind bars and among the general population, he allegedly radicalized 36 fellow inmates. Prison officials moved the persuasive imam into solitary confinement in 2012, where he has remained since. He faces sentencing later this month on a tax fraud conviction that prosecutors hope will keep him in prison for more than three decades. The U.S. attorney is using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to seek an enhanced sentence for Robertson.
Robertson’s attorney wants his client, who has been held for four years, released immediately with time served, but federal authorities are believed to fear that, if freed, Robertson could use his Orlando-area mosque to convince more young Muslims to go overseas and take up arms against the west.
“He is good at selling the dream,” said one of Robertson’s former colleagues.
[The place for this creature is the ADX Supermax facility in Colorado. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
House Overwhelmingly Passes Amendments Blocking Funding for Undermining Encryption
As we’ve been saying, the passage of the USA Freedom Act is just a small first step in the long road to real surveillance reform. On Wednesday, the House took another small step, voting overwhelmingly in favor of an amendment to an appropriations bill put forth by Rep. Thomas Massie that blocks funding to the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) for working with the NSA or CIA to undermine or backdoor encryption. This appears to be quite similar to part of the similar amendment last year that banned both this kind of NIST coordination, but also the NSA’s use of backdoor searches under Section 702. As far as I can tell, this new amendment does not include that latter bit. Either way, this amendment passed 383 to 43.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Tanzina Vega
There are growing pains for the newest generation of civil rights activists.
Groups that sprouted up in response to a string of police killings of black Americans — grabbing the nation’s attention with hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, #BaltimoreUprising and #BlackSpring — are beginning to grapple with the more mundane challenges that come along with success.
One of the chief issues they’re confronting: money.
Donations to many of these groups have come from far and wide including the hip hop moguls Jay Z and Beyonce, who quietly donated tens of thousands of dollars to a bail fund for the Baltimore chapter of #BlackLivesMatter to release protesters from jail.
While activists praised the Carters for their contribution, less star-studded sources of funding have also begun to turn their attention to the cause, including the Ford Foundation and Resource Generation, an organization of wealthy people under 35 who support progressive movements.
Activists say that while they need money to expand both locally and nationally, they are concerned about how much influence donors might have on the movement and its mission to combat and protest racial injustice.
“The nonprofit system is set up for foundations to have an inordinate amount of power and control over what grassroots organizations do,” said Phillip Agnew, the executive director of the Dream Defenders, a Florida based group that was created in the wake of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Agnew said the organization has sold T-shirts and accepted online contributions from individual donors and others to raise money so they can continue to expand in the state.
And unlike many of the newer groups that have emerged out of the protest movement, including #BlackLivesMatter and Ferguson Action, the Dream Defenders recently became classified as a tax-exempt nonprofit, a status that allows them to accept donations from organizations like Ford.
The group now has seven full-time staff members including a political director and a chief operating officer and an operating budget of about $500,000. Agnew said the Dream Defenders relationship with Ford was one that he had “full confidence in,” but he also cautioned against relying too much on foundation dollars to survive.
“If any of our partners ever get into a position where they feel like our political stance will jeopardize our relationship, our political stance comes first,” Agnew said.
Hugh Hogan, the executive director of The North Star Fund, a New York-based organization that recently created a grant program called the Let Us Breathe Fund to fund local racial justice groups, said the newer civil rights groups were wary of accepting traditional sources of funding.
[If that’s a problem, what they should do is hit up Baltimore’s smack dealers, whose activities their own does so much to foster. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
In Baltimore, Allegations of Police Doing Less as Drugs Are Rampant
By Ashley Fantz
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said Wednesday his office is asking for more federal resources to bolster the city’s ability to fight an uptick in crime, an uptick he largely attributes to looted drugs that have made their way to his city’s streets.
At least 27 pharmacies and drug clinics were looted during riots after the April death of Freddie Gray, much more than previously reported, and as much as 175,000 units of dosage narcotics are now on the street, he said.
That’s “enough narcotics on the streets of Baltimore to keep it intoxicated for a year,” he said. “That amount of drugs has thrown off the balance on the streets of Baltimore.”
His comments come as turmoil continues to grip the city less than two months after Gray died from a spinal injury while in police custody. Six Baltimore police officers have been charged in Gray’s death.
There were 42 homicides in the city in May, the deadliest month since 1972.
Authorities expect the number of doses on the streets will be higher, because not all pharmacies have accounted for the missing narcotics, according to a law enforcement official. Some of the drugs looted include fentanyl, oxycodone, amphetamines, Adderall, hydrocodone, morphine and tramadol.
“Criminals are selling those stolen drugs,” Batts said. “There are turf wars happening which are leading to violence and shootings in our city.”
[So this is what the poor, oppressed, marginalized youths were after. What a surprise. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
by Glenn Reynolds
“Lawrence Brown is an assistant professor in the Public Health Department at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He’s an activist who basically believes blacks should receive reparations, that America is segregated, that blacks suffer from historical trauma from white supremacist America.” He even kind of looks like Al Sharpton with that megaphone. The old, fat Sharpton, not the current manorexic-lollipop Sharpton.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The fact that civil asset forfeiture continues to exist across the American landscape despite outrage and considerable media attention, is as good an example as any as to how far fallen and uncivilized our so-called “society” has become. It also proves the point demonstrated in a Princeton University study that the U.S. is not a democracy, and the desires of the people have no impact on how the country is governed.
Civil asset forfeiture was first highlighted on these pages in the 2013 post, Why You Should Never, Ever Drive Through Tenaha, Texas, in which I explained:
In a nutshell, civil forfeiture is the practice of confiscating items from people, ranging from cash, cars, even homes based on no criminal conviction or charges, merely suspicion. This practice first became widespread for use against pirates, as a way to take possession of contraband goods despite the fact that the ships’ owners in many cases were located thousands of miles away and couldn’t easily be prosecuted. As is often the case, what starts out reasonable becomes a gigantic organized crime ring of criminality, particularly in a society where the rule of law no longer exists for the “elite,” yet anything goes when it comes to pillaging the average citizen.
One of the major reasons these programs have become so abused is that the police departments themselves are able to keep much of the confiscated money. So they actually have a perverse incentive to steal. As might be expected, a program that is often touted as being effective against going after major drug kingpins, actually targets the poor and disenfranchised more than anything else.
Civil asset forfeiture is state-sanctioned theft. There is no other way around it. The entire concept violates the spirit of the 4th, 5th and 6th amendments to the Constitution. In case you have any doubt:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal Professor Vilified as Racist for Accurately Quoting Activist
A liberal university professor writing under the pseudonym was lambasted as an abusive racist by social justice activists on Twitter, after he accurately quoted another liberal activist’s tweet.
In an op-ed for Vox.com called “I’m a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me,” the author laments the state of modern campus liberalism, debate-stifling political correctness and “triggering” concerns, and the emphasis of feelings over reason. As evidence of the latter, he linked to a tweet from artist and cultural critic Zahira Kelly that literally dismissed science as racist.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obamatrade: Global Access to Citizens’ Data
Under the draft provisions of the latest trade deal to be leaked by Wikileaks, countries could be barred from trying to control where their citizens’ personal data is held or whether it’s accessible from outside the country.
Wikileaks has released 17 documents relating to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), currently under negotiation between the US, the European Union and 23 other nations. These negotiating texts are supposed to remain secret for five years after TISA is finalized and brought into force.
The deal, which has been under discussion behind closed doors since early 2013, is intended to remove barriers to trade in services. It’s a sort of companion piece to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which cover trade in goods — but potentially far bigger, with Wikileaks claiming that ‘services’ now account for nearly 80 per cent of the US and EU economies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Secretly Backing Muslim Brotherhood
By Bill Gertz
President Obama and his administration continue to support the global Islamist militant group known the Muslim Brotherhood. A White House strategy document regards the group as a moderate alternative to more violent Islamist groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
The policy of backing the Muslim Brotherhood is outlined in a secret directive called Presidential Study Directive-11, or PSD-11. The directive was produced in 2011 and outlines administration support for political reform in the Middle East and North Africa, according to officials familiar with the classified study.
Efforts to force the administration to release the directive or portions of it under the Freedom of Information Act have been unsuccessful.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan declined to comment on PSD-11. “We have nothing for you on this,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Administration Scrambles to Contain Damage From ‘Massive Data Breach’
The Obama administration was scrambling Friday to contain the damage from a massive cyber-breach which may have put the entire federal workforce at risk, as officials began to point the finger at China-based hackers.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement confirming the breach, saying that it had concluded at the beginning of May that data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Interior Department had been compromised.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Under Pressure to Release Secret Pages of 9/11 Report ‘Showing Saudi Arabia Financed Attacks’
The Obama administration is facing renewed pressure to release a top secret report that allegedly shows that Saudi Arabia directly helped to finance the September 11 attacks.
Rand Paul, the Libertarian Republican senator from Kentucky, is demanding that Mr Obama declassify 28 pages that were redacted from a 2002 US Senate report into the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Paul, who been vocal in attacking the bulk NSA spying programmes revealed by the rogue security contractor Edward Snowden and is running for president in 2016, has now promised to file an amendment to a Senate bill that would call on Mr Obama to declassify the pages.
The blacked-out pages, which have taken on an almost mythical quality for 9/11 conspiracy theorists, were classified on the orders of George W. Bush, leading to speculation they confirmed Saudi involvement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report: NSA Sifts Americans’ International Internet Traffic to Hunt Hackers
The National Security Agency’s ability to warrantlessly sift through Americans’ international Internet traffic has been secretly expanded as part of efforts to identify malicious hackers.
The increased surveillance, sanctioned by the Obama administration in 2012, has allowed the NSA to monitor U.S. Internet networks for information about hacks originating abroad, the New York Times and ProPublica reported Thursday, citing documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
According to the Times:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Even capitalists often make the mistake of talking about “social justice” as if it’s the opposite of free markets or a reason to rein in markets with more regulations or redistribution of wealth. But there’s nothing “just” about the leftist protesters’ claimed solution: more big government.
Oliver Stone, Sean Penn and Harry Belafonte praised Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez for his socialist revolution. Chavez then proceeded to destroy much of his country.
Even after his death, his portrait remains on walls everywhere and his policies live on. They haven’t produced social justice, unless your idea of “justice” is privileges for government officials and shortages of basics like food and toilet paper for ordinary people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sources: Administration Tried to Recruit Taliban 5 Members as Informants, Effort Was ‘Total Failure’
By Catherine Herridge
The U.S. government tried to recruit members of the Taliban Five as assets, so they could gather intelligence and the U.S. could influence their future actions, Fox News has learned.
The effort to “flip” the five Taliban leaders into becoming informants, however, didn’t work. A source familiar with the strategy described it as a “total failure.”
Other sources, who discussed the option on the condition of anonymity, backed up the account.
The move was pursued to strengthen the Obama administration’s ability to prevent the ex-Guantanamo prisoners — traded more than a year ago for American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — from returning to terrorism. The Taliban Five have been living in Qatar under a travel ban, which was set to expire earlier this week but was temporarily extended amid ongoing talks between the U.S. and Qatar.
Asked about the strategy of flipping Taliban Five members, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest offered little information at Friday’s press briefing.
“Even as a general matter, this is an intelligence matter that I won’t be able to discuss from here,” Earnest said.
[…]
A year ago, the men were greeted as heroes in the gulf nation of Qatar. They are now joined in the oil-rich nation by some 65 immediate family members and other relatives.
Asked by Fox News if their presence might “increase the men’s ability to re-engage with terrorist networks,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “I’m not sure why that would be the case. It seems like pure speculation to me.”
But a leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee who receives regular briefings said otherwise.
“Without going into the details of the numbers, they have had access to outsiders who in turn have had access to the outside. And this can’t bode well for American national security,” Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo said.
[Enough mollycoddling. Put these varmints back in Gitmo. The name of the game is “hold ‘em.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Strange Deaths Surrounding Wall Street
Thomas J. Hughes, a 29-year-old investment banker allegedly took his life by jumping from a luxury apartment building at 1 West Street in Manhattan last week. Per usual, the NYPD immediately declared it a suicide. Strangely, serious investigations never took place and similar deaths have occurred within the past 18 months all declared suicides.
Wall Street on Parade has been following a lead, alleging insurance fraud. They may be barking up the wrong tree with regard to motive, but what they are barking about is very strange. I suspect that, like myself, they may have stumbled upon info with respect to market manipulations that would uncover even more wrongdoing and billions of dollars in fines.
Wall Street on Parade’s barking may not be the motive for the deaths, but given the strange death of Senior Vice President of MassMutual, Melissa Millan, 54, who they point out was in possession of the very type of peer review records they were seeking, there may be another motive. As Wall Street on Parade reported about Millan’s death, “That meant Millan was among a limited group outside of Federal regulators who was in a position to have broad data on the death benefit claims being submitted by multiple banks and able to run studies to detect if anomalies were emerging.” Millan was brutally stabbed to death while jogging in Simsbury, Connecticut. The connection may not mean that she was murdered to cover-up insurance payments, but rather that she may have suspected murder and thus insurance fraud so her murder might be required to prevent an investigation of the Wall Street suicide contagion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thanks Obama: Health Premiums to Soar
Health premiums for Americans are about to go through the roof, and even the vaunted Obamacare can’t help them.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama is proposing a 28 percent increase; BC/BS of Pennsylvania wants to raise premiums by 30 percent; BC/BS of North Carolina hopes to jack prices by 26 percent. Illinois and Florida BC/BS’s have proposed increases of 28 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
But it’s not just Blue Cross. United Healthcare in Florida wants to raise its rates for its Obamacare exchange by an average of 18 percent across the board. But brokered insurance would go up 31 percent and some locations could see increases topping 65 percent. In Texas, one provider wants a 32 percent increase for exchange-based plans, while another seeks a 30 percent hike.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Transhumanist Kurzweil Predicts Human/Computer Hybrids by 2030s
Futurist Ray Kurzweil has repeated his prediction that humans will meld with computers in the future, but has revised down the time scale by up to 15 years, suggesting that it will be a reality by the 2030s.
Kurzweil, now the director of engineering at Google, told the Exponential Finance conference in New York Wednesday that people will soon be able to to connect their brains directly to the cloud, and augment their existing intelligence with thousands of computers.
“Our thinking then will be a hybrid of biological and non-biological thinking,” Kurzweil said, explaining that the brain will use DNA nanobots to make the connection.
[Comment: Just like Star Trek’s BORG: “You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Believes China Behind Cybersecurity Breach Affecting at Least 4m Federal Employees
Hackers based in China are believed to be behind a massive data breach that could have compromised the personal data of at least 4 million current and former federal employees, U.S. officials said late Thursday.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Associated Press that investigators suspect the cyberattack was carried out by the Chinese. She said the breach was “yet another indication of a foreign power probing successfully and focusing on what appears to be data that would identify people with security clearances.”
If confirmed, the incident would be the second major breach by Beijing in less than a year. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called such accusations “not responsible and counterproductive.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: €300,000 Worth of Forged Bills Seized in Vienna
Detectives in Vienna have seized counterfeit money with a face value of almost €300,000 and have arrested six suspects.
The gang consisted of a 37-year-old Austrian man who was based in Vienna, two Hungarian women and three Hungarian men.
The counterfeit euro notes (in values of €100, €50 and €20) were being sold on the streets of Vienna for half the price of their face value.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Burgenland Gets SPÖ and FPÖ Coalition
The Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) have announced that a coalition government in Burgenland has now been finalised. It is the first red blue government in the province.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Champagne Drunk at Dead Terrorists’ Autopsies
Photos have emerged that show how bottles of champagne were drunk at the autopsy of the two terrorists that were shot dead during a raid in Verviers (Liège province) in January. News that the photos had been published on the Brussels anti-terrorism cell’s intranet site appears in Wednesday’s edition of the Francophone daily ‘La Dernière Heure’.
The Interior Minister Jan Jambon (Flemish nationalist) and Police Chief Catherine De Bolle are keen to stress that no police officers appear in the photos.
The Liège Chief Prosecutor Christian De Valkeneer has said that the behaviour shown on the photos is unacceptable. Mr Jambon and Ms De Bolle describe to behaviour of the people on the photographs as “repugnant and unacceptable”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Heightened Security Measures After Autopsy Photo Leak
The security threat level has been heightened from three to two at a number of locations in Belgium. The heightened security has come about as a result of the leaking of a number of photographs that show people drinking champagne at the autopsy of two suspected terrorists shot that were shot dead by police during a raid on a house at Verviers in Liège province in January.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Corruption Probe Targets Romanian PM
Anti-graft authorities in Romania have pledged to investigate whether Prime Minister Victor Ponta laundered money, evaded taxes and made false statements while in office. On Friday, they opened a formal case against him.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Muslims Urged Not to Vote
Two radical Islamic groups in Denmark argue that democracy is incompatible with their religion and have told Muslims to boycott the June 18 election.
The controversial Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir has urged Danish Muslims to stay away from the voting booths on the upcoming June 18th election as a form of protest against the democratic system.
“We are committed to being active participants in our society, but it has to be on Islam’s terms, without compromising our own principles and values. Democracy is fundamentally incompatible with Islam, and it is a sinking ship,” the organisation wrote in a press release, adding that the way forward for Muslims in Denmark is to oppose the country’s “Islamophobic” integration policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Queen and PM Celebrate Gender Equality
During Friday’s Constitution Day celebration in Denmark, Queen Margrethe and Helle Thorning-Schmidt paid tribute to the women who fought to achieve the right to vote 100 years ago.
Friday marked not only Constitution Day in Denmark but also the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. The constitution that was signed into effect on June 5, 1915 gave both women and servant equal democratic footing with wealthy men and laid the foundation for modern Danish society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dijsselbloem to Seek Second Term as Eurogroup Chair
Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has formally put forward his candidacy for a second term as chairman of the Eurogroup, the group of Eurozone finance ministers. Dijsselbloem previously mentioned he would like to remain in his position and visited several European capitals to garner support for his candidacy.
For his reappointment, he must receive support from the 18 Eurozone members. That would allow Dijssebloem to remain chairman for the next four years. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both previously indicated they have no objection to Dijsselbloem’s reappointment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Astronaut Kuipers Loses Space Record to Italy’s Cristoforetti
Dutch astronaut André Kuipers has been dethroned as the European astronaut with the longest stay on the International Space Station. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti broke his record on Thursday.
In 2011 and 2012 Kuipers spent 193 days on the ISS before returning to earth on June 30th, 2012. He was supposed to return sooner, but the trip was delayed due to problems with the Russian rocket that was meant to pick him up, NOS reports.
Cristoforetti is currently dealing with similar circumstances, also being on the ISS longer than she planned. She was supposed to return to earth on May 12th, but the trip was postponed when an unmanned Russian cargo ship caught fire in may. The cargo ship was on its way to take supplies to ISS. All flights to the ISS have been postponed until the cause of the accident has been established. The ISS still has enough supplies for weeks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Keen for Chinese Investment in Juncker Fund
Representatives from several European regions on Thursday (4 June) tried to convince the four largest Chinese banks to invest in projects under the EU’s new investment programme.
At a workshop in Brussels, regions and cities including Berlin, Catalonia, Ile-de-France, and Lodzkie, held presentations of ideas for ICT projects.
Their pitches were heard by officials from the European departments of ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China, four of the seven largest banks in the world. A representative of HSBC was also present.
ICBC is the world’s largest bank with $3.3 trillion in assets, followed by the China Construction Bank.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: ISIS-Looted Treasures Seized en Route to Russia
Finnish Customs has seized historical art treasures looted by the Isis terrorist group in Syria that were headed across the southeastern border into Russia.
The most valuable piece seized by Finnish Customs, while on its way to a collector in Russia, is a decorative ceramic plaque looted from a Syrian shrine that dates to the 1400s.
“There a great deal of archeological material in the Middle East related to humankind’s early history that in many ways is irreplaceable,” Chief Intendant Jouni Kuurne of Finland’s National Board of Antiquities told Yle.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO has been deeply concerned about the destruction of Syrian’s world heritage sites and the looting of art treasures for sale to private collectors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Anti-G7 Demos Kick Off in Munich Streets
More than 30,000 people on Thursday kicked off protests against a G7 summit starting at the weekend in the southern German state of Bavaria, police said.
The peaceful rally and march took place in the state capital Munich, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of the Alpine venue where Chancellor Angela Merkel is to welcome leaders from the club of rich nations from Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Arrests 44 Tied to Rome’s Garbage Mafia
Italian police arrested 44 people on Thursday accused of dealings with a powerful one-eyed mobster whose gang thrived on rigging Rome public contracts on everything from garbage disposal to park maintenance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Open to Treaty Changes to Keep UK in EU
German chancellor Merkel says the EU may need treaty changes to keep the UK in. “If that is really necessary then we have to consider it,” she told the BBC. “We have always been able also to pursue a Europe at different speeds, to find opt-out solutions for example.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Head Wowed by Merkel’s Wine Stamina
The head of Nato has spoken admiringly of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s capacity for white wine, telling interviewers in Norway that when the two unwind over drinks: “let’s put it like this: she isn’t the first to leave.”
Jens Stoltenberg told Aftenposten interviewers Trine Eilertsen and Harald Stanghelle that he had enjoyed boozy evenings with the German chancellor “many times”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Romania PM Interrogated by Anti-Corruption Office
Romanian PM Victor Ponta was interrogated Friday morning by the DNA, Romania’s anticorruption office, over suspicions of false documents, money laundering and complicity in tax evasion in a case involving former minister and senator Dan Sova. Leaving the anticorruption office, Ponta said “politics are made in Parliament, not the DNA”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban in Norway for Informal Talks
Members of Afghanistan’s Taliban are in Norway for informal talks with representatives of Afghan society, the Norwegian government said on Thursday, in a new sign of a nascent dialogue.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child-Rape Crimes Covered Up
by Douglas Murray
The feeling remains that these child-rape crimes are still passed over or covered up. An independent official inquiry found failures at every level of the institutions of state. Crimes of this nature are still being kicked under the carpet — for reasons of “political correctness” — with no concern for harm done to the children. The issue is a true tinderbox.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
London is the cocaine capital of Europe, with the highest concentration of the drug in its waste water, a report revealed yesterday.
Scientists found sewage in the city contained more traces of the class A drug than anywhere else surveyed. It is passed into the network in the urine of users.
The amount peaks on Friday and Saturday, sampling by the Lisbon-based European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction showed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: TTIP Will Legalize Cancer-Causing Chemicals Banned by EU, Trade Union Warns
Britain could be flooded with harmful chemicals currently banned in the European Union if the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal is signed next week, a trade union has warned.
The GMB said chemicals that can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects and development disorders will be allowed in the EU after the controversial trade agreement is signed.
The union’s top health and safety officer expressed concern that TTIP would allow a “downward harmonization of standards” for chemicals currently banned in the EU.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Hobbit First Edition Fetches £137,000 at Auction
A first edition of JRR Tolkien’s 1937 novel The Hobbit, with an inscription in Elvish written by the author, had sold at auction in London for £137,000.
The sale smashes the previous record for a sale of The Hobbit, set in 2008 when a first edition sold for £60,000.
Tolkien gave the book to Katherine “Kitty” Kilbride, one of his students at Leeds University in the 1920s.
The Elvish verse is an extract from Tolkien’s The Lost Road, part of his 12-volume History of Middle-earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: UN “Death Targets” Will Mean Reduced Healthcare for Elderly
Elderly people in the United Kingdom and potentially worldwide are likely to be treated as “second-class citizens” and even denied life-saving medical treatment under proposed “highly unethical” United Nations “death targets,” healthcare and aging experts declared in an open letter last week. The radical UN “Sustainable Development Goals,” which would put virtually every realm of human activity in the crosshairs, include, among other controversial provisions, proposed global “targets” for reducing premature deaths from various causes. To meet those targets, the experts said, government-run healthcare systems such as the U.K. “National Health Service” (NHS) are likely to focus more resources on easier-to-save younger people — at the expense of the elderly whose deaths would not be counted as “premature.” Some critics are even saying the plan heralds the advent of “death panels.”
Officially dubbed the UN “Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals,” the plot being pushed by the UN and its member regimes represents a brazen attack on liberty, self-government, markets, national sovereignty, and more — all under the guise of “solving” all of the world’s real and imagined problems. The death targets are merely one tiny component that includes everything from “education” and values to food and health. The specific “Sustainable Development Goals,” set to replace the “Millennium Development Goals” established in 2000, are still being hammered out by UN bureaucrats and UN member regimes. Everything from “ending poverty” and “ending hunger” to “achieving gender equality” and “reducing income equality within and between countries” over 15 years is on the agenda. Imagine the coercive powers and the massive amount of resources required to even attempt such scheming.
Now, at least one component of the agenda — the age discrimination in healthcare — is coming under heavy criticism in the United Kingdom. In the open letter published by the prominent medical journal The Lancet and widely reported in the British press, the international coalition of experts lambasted the sought-after UN goal and demanded that it be scrapped or revised. Blasting the ideas as “agist” — discrimination against individuals based on their age — the signatories argued that the concept of “premature mortality” has the potential to “undermine the cherished, fundamental principle of health as a universal right for all.” The letter specifically criticizes a previous article on the subject that it says is based on “ethical principles” that “are deeply troubling” — namely, “that people aged 70 years and above do not matter.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Most Swedes Don’t Care About National Day
You’re forgiven if you’ve missed the fact that Saturday marks Sweden’s National Day, one of the Nordic country’s least celebrated holidays. Here are five reasons why most Swedes couldn’t care less about June 6th.
Americans celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks and huge parties. Norwegians happily dance around in the street when Syttende Mai comes round. But to Swedes, this Saturday’s National Day is likely to quietly pass largely unnoticed.
Expats are often stunned at why Swedes are so blasé about their National Day.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIL Tells Balkan Muslims to “Either Join it Here, Or Kill There”
The Islamic State has published a propaganda video that threatens Balkan countries and calls on Muslims to either join it, or launch attacks in the Balkans.
The video, titled “Honor is in jihad, a message to the Balkans”, has been published by the Alhayat Media Center — a propaganda center established to reach audiences in the West with Islamic messages.
The video, that lasts a little over 22 minutes, has an English language narrator talking about the history of the Balkans, while showing historical footage, and about the Muslim communities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania “and other countries in the region.”
Members of the Islamic State who came from the Balkans are shown, with several of them calling on other Muslims to go to Iraq and Syria, “where they can safely and with dignity live with their families.”
[How come in English instead of Serbo-Croatian? They must not have had many takers thus far. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: Threat on Balkans to ‘Avenge Muslims’
The Balkans are being threatened by Isis, which has announced it wants ‘‘revenge for the humiliation suffered by Muslims in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia’’. ‘‘We will arrive with explosives’’, said the Albanian national Abu Muqatil (Al Kosovi), a Kosovan Islamic militants who claims to represent the jihadist group in the region.
In a long video released by Al Hayat media center, the main ‘production house’ of the terror organization born in Syria and Iraq, the announcement of future attacks in the Balkan region is entrusted to Albanian-language militants.
‘‘We will arrive with explosives’’, says, among others, Abu Muqatil al Kosovi, a Kosovo native. Abu Muqatil anticipates ‘‘dark days’’ for all those who ‘‘in Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and across the Balkans have disparaged Muslims’’. He then adds: ‘‘you must be afraid to walk down the road, be in your offices, sleep in your homes. With Allah’s permission, we will strangle you’’.
A few hundred radical Muslims from Balkan countries, from Bosnia to Albanian-language territories, have joined Isis although local authorities have announced a crackdown on the so-called foreign fighters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Feminist Expelled From Morocco
A Spanish feminist with ties to Femen was expelled from the conservative Muslim kingdom and two Moroccan men who kissed in public were arrested after a pro-gay protest, officials said on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas to Israel: ISIS-Linked Rebels Trying to Spark Conflict Between US
Defense dilemma: How to deal with jihadists in the Gaza Strip who are trying to provoke both Israel and Hamas?
Israel’s defense establishment knows that the recent “trickles” of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel must be stopped before it becomes a routine occurrence. But while Israel has officially placed the responsibility for Wednesday night’s rocket fire on Gaza’s leadership, Hamas is having a hard time reining in Salafi and jihadist groups in the Strip.
Minutes after Wednesday night’s rocket fire, Hamas operatives rushed from their headquarters to find shelter, fearing Israeli retaliation strikes, which came early Thursday morning with as three militant training camps were targeted.
A senior Hamas official sent a message to Israel through Egypt, claiming that an ISIS-affiliated group, which it is currently at odds with, fired the rocket and was using Israel’s blaming of Hamas for all attacks coming from Gaza in an attempt to spark an escalation between the two sides.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The New Government’s War on BDS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government is less than a month old, but it’s already apparent that it is different from its predecessors. And if it continues on its current diplomatic trajectory, it may do something that its six predecessors failed to accomplish. Netanyahu’s new government may improve Israel’s position internationally.
The stakes are high. Over the years, Israel has largely concentrated its efforts on developing the tools to contend with its military challenges. But as we have seen over the past decade and a half, Israel’s capacity to fight and defeat its enemies is not limited principally by the IDF’s war-fighting capabilities.
Israel’s ability to defend itself and its citizens is constrained first and foremost by its shrinking capacity to defend itself diplomatically. Its enemies in the diplomatic arena have met with great success in their use of diplomatic condemnation and intimidation to force Israel to limit its military operations to the point where it is incapable of defeating its enemies outright.
The flagship of the diplomatic war against Israel is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
2 Dead, 100 Injured in Explosion at Kurdish Election Rally in Turkey
Two people died and more than 100 were injured after two explosions rocked a Kurdish party election rally in southeast Turkey on Friday, the country’s Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said.
The blasts occurred five minutes apart at the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, final election rally as party leader Selahattin Demirtas was preparing to address the crowd in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Air Force Intel Uses ISIS ‘Moron’ Post to Track Fighters
By Walbert Castillo
Although ISIS is known for using social media for recruitment purposes, U.S. Air Force intelligence has been using it to track down Islamic State militants, according to Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command.
“These guys that are working down at Hurlburt (Florida), they’re combing through social media. And they see some moron standing at this command and control capability for Da’Esh, ISIL. These guys go, ‘ah we got an in,’“ Carlisle said at a speech in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.
Twenty-two hours after seeing the post, U.S. warplanes went in for the kill.
“Long story short…three JDAMs take the entire building out,” Carlisle said in the speech to the Air Force Association.
A JDAM is a kit attached to a conventional bomb that converts it into a “smart” weapon, according the U.S. Navy. The kit, made by Boeing and put in the tail of the bombs, uses a global positioning system and internal navigation system to guide the bombs onto targets.
Using GPS coordinates, JDAM bombs have an error rate of less than 40 feet, the Navy says.
[…]
Carlisle did not give details of the type of JDAM bomb or aircraft used, but he gushed about the team at Hurlburt Field, home of the Air Force’s 1st Special Operations Wing.
“Incredible work when you think about it,” Carlisle said of the operation. “And it was these incredible airmen out there doing those kind of things,” Carlisle said.
[…]
Social media has been a central focus for propagandists to recruit, share their experiences and show off their triumphs. However, U.S. intel, specifically airmen, have been avidly searching across social media to track down ISIS whereabouts to actively respond.
[Glad to see the USAF take out an ISIS ‘moron’ — but isn’t it kind of moronic to trumpet it to the media? Now the enemy will know not to let this happen again. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda “Excommunicates” The Islamic State Group, Calling Its Caliphate Illegal
Damascus (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Islamic State (IS) group “announced a caliphate, but the scholars rejected it as illegitimate. It is not based on Islamic law,” said Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, head of al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate al-Nusra Front.
The rivalry between the two groups deepened after IS declared a caliphate spanning across Syria and Iraq in June 2014. For Jolani, IS has de facto abandoned the fight against the Assad regime.
“There is no indication of a solution between us and them at this time. We hope that they repent and return to the Sunni people,” he said, adding that the rivalry had allowed the Syrian regime “to flourish.”
Still, he refused to call IS fighters “infidels” — a term usually referring to non-Muslims — but instead said they had strayed from the path of Islam.
“They did not commit to the orders we had . . . including not blowing up markets or killing people in mosques,” he said.
Jolani also criticised IS for not “being serious in fighting the regime” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He rejected political solutions to Syria’s four-year war, saying an end to the crisis could only come through “jihad”, or holy war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bani Qurayza: Details of the Islamic Genocide of the Jews by Prophet Muhammad
by Ibn Kammuna
Let’s say the Qurayza men who were beheaded were 700 men. That is 700 hundred crimes committed by Muhammad. Seven hundred purposeful killings. Can any decent human beings see that a defense of Muhammad’s crimes in this instance even remotely plausible? Muslim apologetics really have no shame. You can find their writings on the web defending Muhammad and the early Muslims on the Bani Qurayza story too.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai: Largest Amusement Park in the World to Open
Inauguration scheduled in 2016
(ANSAmed) — Dubai is conquering a new record with the largest amusement park in the world it has planned. The huge project — whose inauguration is scheduled in October 2016 — was unveiled and today promoted on local media.
It concerns a complex of parks to be opened simultaneously and connected between them. The area will be called ‘Dubai Parks and Resorts’. Along with the record dimensions, the peculiarity of the new amusement destination will consist in the fact that it will comprise different thematic parks: from Legoland to Legoland Water and Lapita Hotel (a Polynesian style resort); from Bollywood Park to Motionagale (dedicated to cinema).
The heart of the project will be Riverland Dubai: a series of pedestrian-only areas inspired by the most famous public locations worldwide, from the ramblas in Barcelona to Covent Garden in London and Times Square in New York.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah Leader Says ‘Millions’ Of Israelis Will be Displaced in Case of New War
BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says “millions” of Israelis will be displaced in case of a new conflict between the Shiite group and the Jewish state.
Friday’s remarks by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, during a rally in southern Beirut, were in response to a comment from Israel that a future war could displace more than a million Lebanese.
Jerusalem Post on Thursday quoted an unnamed Israeli military official as saying that if given no choice, Israel would “evacuate 1 million, 1.5 million residents in Lebanon, and act.”
Nasrallah says Hezbollah “will displace millions of Israelis if a war is imposed on Lebanon.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Leader Encourages Pedophilia
[WARNINGL Disturbing Content.]
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Caliph Ibrahim of the Islamic State, reportedly tweeted that it is permissible for jihadists “to enjoy young boys in the absence of women,” another shocking insight into the warped beliefs of ISIS.
Al-Baghdadi’s Twitter account was suspended last year, but the screenshot of the tweet has re-emerged after being posted by a number of Arabic language websites in recent days.
According to Jihad Watch, the translation of the Arabic reads, “It is permissible for the mujahid [jihadi] to enjoy young boys in the absence of women.”
The message is justified with reference to Koran 52:24, which states, “There will circulate among them [servant] boys [especially] for them, as if they were pearls well-protected.”
Verses 76:19 also read, “There will circulate among them young boys made eternal. When you see them, you would think them [as beautiful as] scattered pearls.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Fighters Capture Power Station Outside Key Northeastern Syrian City
Islamic State militants fighting in Syria on Friday reached the southern gates of the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh amid intense air raids and shelling, Syrian activists and the extremist group’s radio station said.
The Islamic State group has been attacking Hassakeh city since May 30, facing stiff resistance from government forces. The city has been split between government forces and Kurdish fighters who have been attacking IS positions elsewhere in the province.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Now the Truth Emerges: How the US Fueled the Rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq
The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tariq Aziz, Ex-Saddam Hussein Aide, Dies After Heart Attack
Tariq Aziz, known as the face of Saddam Hussein’s regime on the world stage for many years, has died in an Iraqi hospital, officials say.
Aziz, 79, served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister and was a close adviser to the former leader.
He was sentenced to death by the Iraqi Supreme Court in 2010 for the persecution of religious parties under Saddam’s rule but was never executed.
He surrendered to US troops in 2003 shortly after the fall of Baghdad.
A local health official told reporters that he was taken to hospital from prison after suffering a heart attack. Initial reports said he had died in prison.
He had long been in poor health, suffering from heart and respiratory problems, high blood pressure and diabetes, and his family repeatedly called for his release from custody.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Daniel Pipes
Almost every assessment of the national parliamentary election to take place in Turkey on June 7 rates it among the most important in the republic’s nearly century old history. The New York Times deems it “crucial” and the London Daily Telegraph “pivotal.” Huffington Post calls it “the biggest election” in the republic’s history. The Financial Times declares that “Turkey’s future is at stake.”
But I disagree. I see it among the least important of Turkey’s elections. Here’s why:
The focus is not the usual one on “Who will form the next government?” Analysts agree that the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, or AKP), in power since 2002, will win again. But will it have to sign up a junior partner? Will it win sufficient seats to change the constitution and fulfill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plan to turn his position from a largely symbolic one into a fully executive position?
Erdogan wants powers so wide reaching that he actually compares them to those wielded by absolute Saudi monarchs. Ironically, those powers would be extracted from the prime minister, which position Erdogan filled for eleven years until last August, when he voluntarily ceded the position to a hand-picked successor, a mild-mannered academic, and moved over to the grander but far less powerful presidency.
Expressed numerically, the question fascinating Turks is whether the AKP will win a one-seat majority (276 seats out of 550) to rule alone, the 3/5s majority (330 seats) enabling it to change the constitution pending a public referendum, or the 2/3s majority (367 seats) required to change it unilaterally.
The main drama concerns a new party, the leftist, Kurdish-oriented Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halklarin Demokratik Partisi, or HDP): Will it manage to reach the world’s highest threshold of 10 percent of the total vote and enter parliament, in this, its first national campaign? If yes, it will could deprive the AKP of its majority 276 seats; if no, the AKP will likely reach that number and maybe even the magic 330.
But where others find high drama, I see near-tedium, and for two reasons. First, the AKP has used ballot-box shenanigans and other dirty tricks in the past; many indications point to its preparing to do so again, especially in Kurdish-majority districts.
Second, since the moment Erdogan’s presidency began nine months ago, he has behaved as though his wished-for constitutional changes had already been effected; he has chaired cabinet meetings, chose AKP candidates, leaned on the judiciary, and deployed a bevy of “czars” to compete with the prime minister’s staff. He is lord of all he surveys.
He also blatantly defies the ban on political activities by the president, illegally stumping the country, worshipful governmental media at his disposal, Koran often in hand, urging citizens to vote AKP and thereby enhance his powers as cumhurbaskan.
As he transforms a flawed democracy and NATO ally into a rogue state, ostrich-like Western governments sentimentally pretend it’s still the 1990s, with Ankara a reliable ally, and abet his growing despotism.
Therefore, I conclude, how many seats the AKP wins hardly matters. Erdogan will barrel, bulldoze, and steamroll his way ahead, ignoring traditional and legal niceties with or without changes to the constitution. Sure, having fully legitimate powers would add a pretty bauble to his résumé, but he’s already tyrant and Turkey’s course is set.
Being a brilliant domestic operator and also an egomaniac in a tinderbox of a region suggests where Erdogan’s future troubles lie — abroad. Under his leadership, Ankara suffers poor to terrible relations at present with nearly the entire neighborhood, including Moscow, Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Athens, the Republic of Cyprus, and even with the new leader of Turkish Cyprus.
Some foreign policy blunder on Erdogan’s part, perhaps with Russia (in Ukraine) or Israel (in Gaza), perhaps in the killing fields of Syria or the gas fields of Cyprus, will likely bring the Erdogan era to its shuddering and inglorious demise.
And when that moment arrives, hardly a soul will bring up the results of the June 7 election; and none will remember it as a turning point.
Still, even an unimportant election matters: I invite readers to join me in the unwonted experience of rooting for a left-wing party, the HDP, to gain 10 percent of the vote, to win parliamentary representation, and then, one hopes, cleverly to obstruct Erdogan’s power grab in what small ways it can.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Wine Seeks Markets Abroad, Bypassing Restrictions
(di Patrizio Nissirio) — URLA (TURKEY)- The vineyard extends in perfect rows across 350 hectares of hilly countryside and greenery. There is a small, stylish, boutique hotel for those who want to enjoy the area’s absolute quiet. But this is not Tuscany, nor France. We are in Urla, a town on the Karaburun Peninsula — part of Turkey’s Aegean coast not far from Izmir.
Here a winery named after the town is pushing its award-winning wines increasingly into the international market. Despite restrictive laws on the advertising and marketing of alcohol, introduced in recent years by Turkey’s Islamic-leaning government, the Urla company, founded in 2001 by Can Ortabas, is looking with confidence toward expansion abroad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Earthquake Kills 2 Climbers, Strands 137 on Malaysia Mountain
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A magnitude-5.9 earthquake struck near Malaysia’s highest mountain on Friday, killing two climbers, injuring 11 others, and stranding more than a hundred people on the peak, Malaysian officials said.
The quake was centered northwest of Ranau district in Sabah state on Borneo at a depth of 34 miles, Malaysia’s meteorological department said.
Local media said rescuers recovered two bodies from 4,095-meter Mount Kinabalu believed to be of a local guide and a 12-year-old female Singaporean student.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In Kyrgyzstan, NGOs Treated as “Foreign Agents” Subject to Checks and Controls
Bishkek (AsiaNews) — After stalling for almost two years and many appeals by international bodies for changes, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill that defines foreign-funded NGO as foreign agents.
The “foreign agents” bill, which Kyrgyz legislators approved in first reading by a vote of 83 to 23, has to go through two more votes in parliament before landing on President Almazbek Atambayev’s desk for approval. The latter has already indicated that he is in favour of the legislation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Ups Its Defense Budget by 11 Percent to $ 7.6 Billion to Continue Fighting Terrorism
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has announced an 11 percent increase in its defense budget for 2016, allocating $7.64 billion to help fund its ongoing war against insurgents in the northern region.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told parliament on Friday that the country’s defense budget has been increased from 700 billion to 780 billion rupees — or $7.64 billion.
He says the increase is meant for security and military needs.
Pakistan has been fighting Islamic militants for more than a decade, with major troop deployments in tribal regions near Afghanistan’s border.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Reveals Suspects in Malala Shooting Were Secretly Acquitted
Police have revealed that only two of the 10 men arrested for attempting to murder Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai were actually jailed. In 2012, the teen survived a shooting attack by Taliban fighters.
The Swat district police chief, Salim Marwat, said that despite earlier announcements, all but two of the suspects detained over the crime were cleared and released. “Two of them were sentenced to life imprisonment while eight others were acquitted,” he said.
In 2012, then 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head in an ambush by Taliban militants. Two other students were also hurt in the attack. Officials announced in April that an anti-terrorism court had found 10 men guilty of the crime, and sentenced them to 25 years in jail, considered a life sentence in Pakistan. The existence of the trial was not revealed until after its conclusion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Says Informal Oslo Talks With Afghan Officials ‘Not Peace Talks’
Discussions have been held in Norway between the Taliban and Afghan officials, with media reports saying they focused on women’s rights. The Taliban has denied the talks signalling any progress on peace negotiations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Patriotic” Cruises and Joint Airbases, As Anti-Beijing Alliance Strengthens in the South China Sea
The Vietnamese government has launched “patriotic” cruises around islands disputed with Beijing. For 800 US dollars you can visit the Spratly and take part in a nighttime fishing expedition. Meanwhile, the Philippines gives Japan the go ahead to use its military bases. Tokyo may well contribute to the task of patrolling the seas to counter Chinese expansionism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
It’s a Dog’s Life: How Affluent Chinese Are Falling in Love With Pampering Their Pets
Once banned by Communist leader Mao Zedong as a bourgeois pastime, having a pet has now become a symbol of financial success in China, where consultants Euromonitor forecast the pet care sector will grow by more than half to 15.8 billion yuan by 2019, outpacing the world’s biggest market the United States, which is expected to grow just over 4 per cent this year to US$60.6 billion.
Dogs are by far the most popular pets and dog food sales alone are expected to almost treble to over US$760 million by 2019, Euromonitor data shows, as higher disposable incomes make keeping a pet an affordable luxury for more Chinese, particularly in more developed cities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philippine President Compares China to Nazi Germany; Beijing Tells Him to “Repent”
by Tyler Durden
Anyone who follows geopolitical news knows that China is in the midst of a tense standoff with the US and its allies regarding Beijing’s land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea.
To recap, China is building artificial islands atop reefs in the Spratly archipelago. Although other countries have embarked on similar initiatives in the past, the scale of Beijing’s efforts is, according to the US, unparalleled.
Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, The Philippines, and Vietnam all have sovereign claims in the area.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino has now compared China’s “construction efforts” to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.
China said on Wednesday that it was deeply shocked and dissatisfied with the Philippine president’s remarks likening China to Nazi Germany, warning Manila to stop provoking Beijing on the South China Sea issue.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vietnam Sends Message to China With Bid to Buy Fighter Jets and Drones
Vietnam is seeking to upgrade its air defences by acquiring western fighter jets and drones, a move which would further militarise a dispute with Beijing over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Hanoi is speaking to European and US contractors to buy jets, patrol planes and unarmed drones, Reuters reported on Friday.
Several countries claim islands and surrounding waters in the South China Sea, including Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. China claims most of the area. The naval corridor is an important shipping route and the region is thought to have oil and gas reserves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wanna Sink on Titanic? Tourists to Flock to China’s Replica of Iconic Ship
An ambitious project by a Chinese company is set to give visitors their very own Titanic sinking experience. Opening in 2017, the $161 million replica will not only feature every little details of the ship, it’ll also recreate the crash.
For a fee of about $485 per night, you’re not just getting the journey — you’re also getting the lavish dinners, the dancing and the entertainment. Visitors will get to experience life as it was for the elite back in the day, the People’s Daily Online reports. Luxury tickets, however, will be more than 30 times that, at 100,000 yuan a pop.
The ship will boast exact reproductions of everything, down to the nuts and bolts. They will even get to experience the authentic menu, exactly as it was in 1912. Some 20,000 sketches were made to come up with the perfect recreation. The company behind the project even consulted with film director James Cameron’s staff, who had worked on the critically-acclaimed 1997 movie “Titanic.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
There Might be No Saving the World’s Top Banana
Six decades after a banana-killing fungus all but wiped out plantations across Latin America, a new strain threatens to destroy global harvests.
A type of Fusarium wilt appeared this year in Australia’s main banana-growing state after spreading to Asia and Africa. While the fungus has been around since the 1990s and has yet to affect top exporter Ecuador, Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. called it a potential “big nightmare.” The United Nations says the disease threatens supply, and Latin American growers are taking steps to limit the risk.
The industry survived the demise of the top-selling Gros Michel banana in the 1950s by switching to a different variety, called the Cavendish. But this time, there’s no ready substitute.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti and Built Six Homes
Even as the group has publicly celebrated its work, insider accounts detail a string of failures
In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for “A Better Life in My Neighborhood” — was building hundreds of permanent homes.
Today, not one home has been built in Campeche. Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.
The Red Cross received an outpouring of donations after the quake, nearly half a billion dollars. The group has publicly celebrated its work. But in fact, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
3,700 Illegal Immigrant ‘Threat Level 1’ Criminals Released Into U.S
By DHS
Most of the illegal immigrant criminals Homeland Security officials released from custody last year were discretionary, meaning the department could have kept them in detention but chose instead to let them onto the streets as their deportation cases moved through the system, according to new numbers from Congress.
Some of those released were the worst of the worst — more than 3,700 “Threat Level 1” criminals, who are deemed the top priority for deportation, were still released out into the community even as they waited for their immigration cases to be heard.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ann Coulter: Immigration Advocates Frightened by 99-Pound Blonde
Third World immigration advocates Frank Sharry, Ali Noorani and Marc Andreessen aren’t shy about rushing to the press with pabulum quotes about how wonderful immigration is, but they don’t want to debate me, even to lie about all those benefits.
They don’t want you to think about immigration at all.
Although you will miss the lush analytical context of the full case made in my smash new book, Adios, America: The Left’s Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole, here are some more startling facts from my book that the anti-American crowd doesn’t want you to know:
— If an illegal alien drops a baby on American soil, the entire family can access welfare programs that were supposed to be for U.S. citizens — in addition to the government assistance illegal aliens can collect right away, such as food stamps and housing subsidies, free medical care and free schooling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: ‘Tent City’ For Refugees in Traiskirchen Centre
The Interior Ministry has announced that it will be putting up tents for 480 refugees in the grounds of a former security academy in Traiskirchen (Lower Austria), to ease the problem of overcrowding at the refugee processing centre.
Traiskirchen mayor Andreas Babler (SPÖ) had requested that the number of refugees at the centre should be reduced but said Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner’s (ÖVP) tent solution is “unlawful”.
The centre is overflowing with more than 2,000 refugees, even though the upper limit is meant to be 480 people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
British Officials Find 68 Illegal Immigrants on Ferry From Hoek Van Holland
A group of 68 people, including two pregnant women and 15 children, have been found locked in cargo containers shipped into England from the Dutch port of Hoek van Holland. Four Polish lorry drivers have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling illegal immigrants into Harwich on the Stena Hollandica ferry. According to British press reports, the group was made up of 53 adults and 15 children included 35 from Afghanistan, 22 from China, 10 from Vietnam and one person from Russia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Estonia, Finland Oppose EU Refugee Distribution Plan
Meeting for the first time in Tallinn, the Finnish and Estonian foreign ministers took a unified stance against EU plans to spread refugees arriving over the Mediterranean out among member states.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Timo Soini met with his Estonian counterpart Keit Pentus-Rosimannus in Tallinn on Wednesday. Pentus-Rosimannus said she was pleased that her Finnish colleague had come to visit so soon after taking office. A day earlier, Soini made his first ministerial visit to Stockholm where he met with his Swedish opposite number, Margot Wallström.
In his first foreign press conference since taking office, Soini took the opportunity to harshly criticise the European Commission for its plan to resolve the problem of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean by distributing them in eastern European countries based on quotas. Under the plan, Estonia would have to accept more than 1,000 asylum seekers within a couple of years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Hit by New Corruption Scandal Over Migrant Centres
Italian police said they arrested 44 people on Thursday suspected of being part of a network of corrupt politicians, officials and business people in Rome accused of rigging public contracts to manage migrant reception centres.
The arrests follow the discovery of a vast system of corruption in the Rome city government last year — a case dubbed “Mafia Capital” which prompted the city hall to ask the national anti-corruption authority to investigate a list of suspect public contracts.
The latest arrests were the result of further investigations linked to the Mafia Capital scandal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mafia Accused of Profiting on Migrant Reception Arrested
Italian police arrested on Thursday 44 people, including former city officials, suspected of profiting on migrant reception centres, ANSA reports. Luca Gramazio, ex-leader of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia caucus in the Lazio regional assembly and former Rome council assembly president Mirko Coratti from PM Matteo Renzi’s party were arrested.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Arrests 441 Bound for Europe
Libyan police, under the control of Tripoli authorities, arrested 441 migrants, most from countries in the sub-Saharan area, who were planning to travel illegally to the coasts of southern Europe. Few details have emerged so far on the operation reported Friday by some Libyan media. The operation reportedly took place after Tripoli residents denounced the presence of the migrants, who were arrested and taken to holding centers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims in Australia ‘Traumatised’ Over Government Plans of Stripping Dual Citizenship
Muslims in Australia are in trauma for being singled out for the government’s political gains. A top Islamic leader in the country is worried that the federal government’s plans would make people “criminals” based on suspicion alone.
Gaith Krayem, president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, told an anti-racism conference in Melbourne about the Abbott government’s plans to allow the immigration minister to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals who are found to be members or supporters of terrorist organisations.
He said the plan was clearly targeting Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 70 Migrants Smuggled in Trucks on Ferry From Netherlands
68 stowaways, including 15 children and two pregnant women, were found hiding inside four trucks at the Harwich International Port in Great Britain on Thursday night. The trucks were transported to England from Hoek van Holland on a Stena Line ferry.
According to the BBC, the stowaways included 35 people from Afghanistan, 22 from China, 10 from Vietnam and one Russian. It is unclear how long they were hiding in the trucks. The two pregnant women and 5 others had to be taken to the hospital with complaints of abdominal and chest pains.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain at Odds With Commission Over Immigration
The Spanish government has rejected the Commission’s proposal to place refugees on its territory. The executive’s plan should be “proportionate, fair and realistic”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel García-Margallo. EurActiv Spain reports.
But Brussels dismissed Madrid, renewing its call for solidarity from other EU members. “I do not agree with the criteria they used. We need to review this issue again to determine the capabilities of each country,” Margallo said last week.
Under the Commission’s scheme, the 28 member states would be required to accept asylum seekers in proportion to the size of their economy, unemployment rate, and population.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Happy Pride Month” From the Media
The coming out of Bruce as Caitlyn Jenner is happening as various sexual minorities are celebrating “Pride Month.” It used to be “Gay Pride Month,” but the number of oppressed sexual minorities seems to be growing at an amazing pace. Without a scorecard, it is hard to keep up.
Sooner or later, pedophilia will emerge as just another orientation.
One of the leading enforcers of political correctness in the media, the site known as BuzzFeed, is coming down hard on “misgendering” by other outlets. It is not permissible, according to this way of thinking, to refer to “Bruce Jenner” anymore, or to call him a male.
The BuzzFeed literary editor has published a quiz titled, “How Transphobic Are You?” That’s right: “transphobia” is the new catchword, designed to silence those of us who still believe in the scientific, biological and traditional definitions of the sexes.
Publications such as BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post, as well as the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), represent the forces of cultural Marxism, designed to highlight and affirm what seems like an endless stream of sexual minorities objecting to their oppression by pro-traditional forces in society.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
After Critique, ‘White Privilege’ Training Company Hides School District Client List From Public
SAN FRANCISCO — After Pacific Educational Group received criticism from this website, a St. Paul teacher and “The O’Reilly Factor,” among others, the company peddling “white privilege” training for public school employees wiped its client list off its website.
Last week, EAGnews published a series of stories telling the experiences of St. Paul 4th grade teacher Aaron Benner. He contends school district administrators are trying to fire him because of his criticism of the training.
We told, too, about a controversial staff meeting in which teachers stared at a photo of a KKK member and were asked, “When do you wear the hood?”
On Tuesday, Benner appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” to share with the top-rated host his first-hand experience with behavioral breakdowns in his school district. He blames Pacific Educational Group, a school consultant that urges students be held to different standards based on race and claims teachers need to own their “whiteness.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The former psychiatrist in chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital is pouring rain on the Bruce Jenner “Call Me Caitlyn” parade that’s sure to have the former Olympic athlete’s cheerleaders steaming.
Not only does Dr. Paul R. McHugh consider changing sexes “biologically impossible,” he thinks being what is popularly called “transgender” these days is actually a “mental disorder.”
McHugh, who has authored six books and at least 125 peer-reviewed medical journal articles, made the statements in a piece he penned for the Wall Street Journal that argued surgery is not the solution for patients who want to live life as the opposite sex.
Such people, he wrote, suffer from a “disorder of assumption” in believing they can choose their sex.
He also cited a study that said transgendered people who have reassignment surgery are 20 times more likely to commit suicide than non-transgendered people, according to CNS News.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Finally a Hijab You Can Wear to the Gym
The world’s first ‘work-out’ hijab to wear to the gym is now in the pipeline.
New company Veil Hijab have begun developing the garments after spotting a gap in the gym wear market for women who want to work out without being weighed down by headscarves.
Some women can be deterred from exercising in traditional headscarves which can become physically uncomfortable as the heavy, dark material becomes soaked with sweat.
However, the company hope to change that with technology especially designed for Muslim women working out.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |